


Cybernetic

by Lovelywik



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Artificial Intelligence, Corporate Espionage, Dubious Morality, Dystopia, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Major Character Injury, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-12 02:25:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15985640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovelywik/pseuds/Lovelywik
Summary: Built on the Grid, Olkarion is the only safe city left on this side of the world. Though safe from the tortures of mother nature, the inside of the city is not as kind as it seems. Gangs and tech companies rule the streets, constantly vying for control over the city.Keith could care less about the politics, he's got his own things to worry about. Every man is out there for themselves here on the Grid. But when Keith goes on a side mission for some extra creds, he finds himself dragged deep, uncovering secrets that could change the world.Atlas was beautiful.And then it hit him. He jolted backward as if the pod had electrocuted him. He hadn’t recognized him at first, the white hair and blue marking had thrown him off.His heart pounded in his chest. In his ears. In his hands.Shiro.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!!! So, this fic was loosely inspired by this piece of [art](https://twitter.com/mollo_tetsu/status/1030877693657505792?s=21). I recommend taking a look at it after reading the first chapter but yeah just look at that beauty!!! Anyway, I've never written Cyberpunk or Dystopia before so I really hope this turns out well lmao. 
> 
> Feel free to follow me on tumblr [@lancemclaen](lancemclaen.tumblr.com).
> 
> And here's a [wip playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/deelopa/playlist/7yGEwiQ8m03IxzVNZsfHIB?si=Xf7oPmPlRlC4OKIVwa6vFw) for the fic.

Lab number 51 was situated in the depths of the Garrison, forty floors deep. To most visitors or workers at the Garrison, the sub levels were off limits, only accessible by authorized personnel. It was known for many things— as a place where secrets were kept and secrets were made. And Lab 51’s current big secret had something to with something called Mecha-Flex Entities (MFEs).

It was a secret well kept, and one the Blade wanted to know more about. They had minimal information, but enough to know that it was a project set to release soon. In all honesty, Keith could care less about the MFE’s, he had more important things to think about than projects directed by the Garrison. But he was assigned a mission and would be compensated, and so he was going through with it.

Entering the Garrison had been easier than expected. The Garrison headquarters was a little ways off the Grid, about an hour there and back by hoverbike. It was far enough away from the central Grid to protect the people; it was a factory and a lab where dangerous activities took place. It had no place in the Grid, just like Altech and Galra Enterprise.

The main building was both long and wide, made up of an amalgamation of steel, brick, and glass that towered over thirty feet into the sky. It was a miracle it still stood being outside of the Grid, but there’s a reason they were called the Garrison. They had their own system almost like the Grid that they called the Galaxie. It was a system that primarily protected against the tumultuous dessert weather, it was almost as strong as the Grid itself.

He had parked his bike by the thick stone fence, turned on camouflage mode, and had climbed his way up and over. Though the Galaxie was a powerful system, and the Garrison often boasted about it having the strongest firewall in the city area that was virtually unhackable, they didn’t seem too concerned with physical trespassing.

Keith made his way to the main entrance, pulling out a white card from his pocket and tapped it against a black scanner. With how much they boasted about the Galaxie, it sure was simple to get in.

Of course, he had had help with the tech, he had been assigned to infiltrate and gather intel, not hack into intricate programming    
  
Once he had gotten past the first wave of security at the entrance, it had been a breeze finding his way toward the back hallway that had AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY written in bold letters on the door. Keith stood tall, the lower half of his face covered with a medical mask, wearing a lab coat he stole from an employee on his way toward the back, the ID of a Doctor Lee Hyun-woo hanging on a lanyard over his neck and pushed through the door.

Stepping into the new area, Keith heard soft snoring. The security guard at the entrance to the sublevel elevators was dozing off. He strode past the guard with purpose, eyes only on the elevator ahead of him.  
  
He tapped the ID against the scanner, the light above the elevator flashing green. There was a short chime, then the doors opened soundlessly, the back of the elevator was glass exposing rough black stone.  
  
Keith stepped in and scanned the ID again. A screen appeared within the glass above the scanner. He selected the lowest floor. The metal doors closed, sealing him in.  
  
He turned around again to face the glass wall. As the elevator descended, tiny lights appeared apparently embedded within the glass. The lights covered most of the glass, flickering constantly as the elevator went down. It took him a moment to realize the lights were displaying the floor numbers. 3, 4, 5, 6… Keith watched the numbers with controlled breaths, he would not let himself panic.

12, 13, 14, 15, 16…

Suddenly the black stone behind the glass was cut off, long strips of steel taking its place. And before Keith knew it, the metal was gone, revealing a long corridor filled to the brim with people—no, _androids_. The lights signaling the floor number continued to change as the elevator descended, the figures growing larger the closer the elevator got to the floor. The androids all stood with their backs straight as an arrow facing the back wall, all of them wearing a military green uniform.

So their androids were stored here too. It made sense. But why the uniform?

21, 22, 23, 24...

The view was quickly obscured as the elevator went into the floor, the elevator going dark for a moment. There was a shift, the lights turned back on, and Keith could feel that the elevator was beginning to slow its descent then stop. He turned around once again as the doors opened, revealing stark white walls with the number 42 spray painted high on the wall in black.  
  
The air on this floor felt heavy and stale, along with the scent of bleach.

Stepping out, Keith took the path on the right, then took the first left. The halls were devoid of people, but metal trolleys containing fluids and scalpels were pushed to the side beside doors, reminding Keith that he wasn’t alone down here. Further down, near the end of the hall, he found the orange door Kolivan had mentioned during the debriefing for the mission.  
  
With a scan of the ID, he pushed open the door, entering the next section of sublevel 42.  
  
This was the hallway to Lab 51, it was dimly lit by incandescent pot lights, every few flickering in and out. It was a stark contrast to the previous hall. It was strange to think that a Lab so highly confidential and not to mention, was built by the technologically advanced Garrison would be so horror moviesque.  
  
It was kind of funny actually, Keith couldn’t help but snort at the thought. He lifted his arm, pulling his sleeve back to expose his Marmo-tech watch. With a quick tap of his fingers, a holographic screen appeared above it, the purple screen slowly etching out a 3D rendered map of the floor.  
  
As the map was forming, he switched on his communicator.  
  
“Pidge do you copy?”  
  
“Pidge to K-bom, I copy, though it is a bit staticky, we should be good.”  
  
He huffed at the code name, but continued, “Can you override the security?”  
  
“Yeah just give me a tick.”  
  
On the right-hand corner of the holoscreen, a copy of the video camera feed appeared. Keith could see himself in the camera feed, but when blined his form had disappeared.

  
“Okay, you’re good. You have about forty dobashes to get in and out. The door into Lab 51 should be the first one on your left.”  
  
Keith nodded. He minimized the map and headed toward the Lab.  
  
The inside of Lab 51 was brightly lit unlike the hallway leading up to it, the lights here illuminated the room with a soft blue filter, the scent of bleach stronger here than it had been outside. Keith was glad he hadn’t taken off the mask. The entryway was mostly bare, there were a few hooks in the wall where a few lab coats hung.  
  
The first room of the lab was your standard one, steel counters on the right and left with a center aisle to walk through. The walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of beakers and all kinds of scientific instruments. Keith ignored most of what was there and continued his way, pulling out the map once again.  
  
“The servers should be in the room after the next one,” Pidge’s voice smooth in Keith’s ear. His map zoomed in, pointing the way.  
  
“Got it.”  
  
“Make sure when you get there to plug the drive into a spot that’s hard to find, hide it behind some protruding wires or something.”  
  
“Yeah, I know.”  
  
The server room was smaller than he expected based on the map. It was like its own hallway, long, dimly lit, and of course, colder than the rest of the rooms in the lab. The servers filled the room from floor to ceiling, wires crisscrossing over and over within one another, the space to walk in the room about three feet long. Keith squeezed his way in, careful not to pull, tug, or step on any of the protruding wires, aiming to hide the drive in the middle area. He pulled out the spark drive and plugged in.

He pulled up his holoscreen to check the data extraction, which was at 0%, then switched screens to watch Pidge’s end. He didn’t understand the coding, but it was interesting to watch as he waited. Once the data was accessed and loaded onto his watch, his job here was done. Hopefully the intel the Blade was looking for about the MFE’s were within these servers, it not, it this mission wouldn’t be a total bust. There was sure to be something useful within the data here, they were stealing data from _Lab 51_ and from the _Garrison_ after all.

Pidge typed out some crazy sequence of words and numbers, it was too fast for Keith to begin to understand and comprehend. “I’m almost done, the data should start downloading onto your watch any second now.”

Keith pulled up the screen, watching as the percentage began to move forward. “Nicely done, Pidge.”

“Heh, that was easier than programming the ID data to get you through the Galaxie’s protocols. Hacking into Servers is simple stuff.”

“How much longer will it take to download?”

“With how much data there is…” Pidge paused for a moment, “Probably about ten dobashes give or take. If you want to explore the rest of the lab you’re welcome to do so. Just, you know, don’t get caught or anything.”

"Hm.”

“I was joking.”

Ten dobashes. He switched screens again to the map, maybe there was physical information he could find that might be helpful. “I’m gonna take a quick look around.”

“Um,” Pidge began, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Keith ignored them, making sure the spark was hidden well enough before he inched his way out of the server room and back into the hall. It wasn’t like he was leaving the lab before the data was fully downloaded. On his map there were about two more rooms within the lab, the 3D render only showing the doors, there was no information about how big the last two rooms were.

“I’ll be quick.”

“You better.”

The first door was locked, no scanner to unlock it in sight. He moved toward the last room which was around another corner.

The door to this room was unlike the others, it was a steel bay door that covered the entire back wall. Curious, he stepped forward to inspect it, but as he did the doors creaked apart, opening automatically. He grabbed for his dagger, thumb smoothing over the cool luxite. A moment's pause. No one was there. He glanced at his watch. He still had another ten dobashes.

He took a few steps forward into the room. As he entered, he felt a shit in the energy, it was lighter in here than outside, yet he felt goosebumps begin to run down his arms.

The door shut behind him with an almost silent whir, lights in the room shining brighter.

The room was massive, each wall in the room was painted a dark gray. Metal counters and desks littered the room. What was most curious were these sort of bulky contraptions made of metal and glass that were about three feet wide and seven feet high. There were about a dozen of them that lined the walls. As Keith drew closer, he realized they were some sort of pod. The front of each box was a frosty opaque glass, and each pod was hooked up to a monitor.

Keith took a closer look trying to see past the blurred outlines of the glass. It… looked like a silhouette of a person in there. Maybe these were new Androids? But why would they be contained in these pods?

He glanced at the monitors, he didn’t dare touch it.

MFE Unit 2  
Sex: Female  
Heart Rate: 62bpm

_Heart Rate?_

“Download should be done in less than five dobashes K-bom,” Pidge’s voice cut through the comm, interrupting his thoughts.

He stepped away from the monitor, opening up his holoscreen to see the download page at 85%, “Pidge, I found the MFEs.”

“What? Are you for real?

“It looks like they’re some kind of android the Garrison is currently working on.”

“Dang. Huh. It sounds like the Blades intel about the Garrison was right, hopefully the data you’re obtaining will help us figure out what they’re planning to use them for,” Pidge said hastily, “Come on, when the data is downloaded you only have another ten dobashes to get out of there before the code I used to override the security system does down.”

“Yeah, I know. Gimme a sec, I’m going to try to find something else.”

“ _Keith_ ,” Pidge hissed.

Keith turned off his comm. He had to be quick in here, there had to be something else in here asides from these pods that could give them more information.

Glancing around he saw that further in the room, there was a larger pod, about a foot wider than the rest. He sprinted toward it, feeling the energy from the room seem to coalesce the closer he got. Just like the rest of the other pods, the glass was opaque with a frosted texture that was hard to see through. But unlike the rest, above the glass carved into the metal framework was the word: ATLAS.

Keith took another step forward to look into the monitor.

“ _System ready for evaluation._ ”

Keith startled away from the electronic voice.

His watch beeped, the holoscreen appearing above his wrist, _100% download complete_ flashing in purple and white.

His queue to leave.

“ _Facial Recognition needed, please take off your mask_.”

But the light within the pod turned on, the frosty texture of the glass fading, slowly revealing a masculine figure whose eyes were closed, as if sleeping serenely. Keith’s breath caught at the sight.

Its skin-tight suit was made of large blocks of white, blue, and orange. A long-indented line stretched across its face from the cheekbones over the nose. What was most startling was that on its forehead was an oblong blue shape that was pointed downward, the end of it shaped like a diamond, its white hair almost obscuring it.

Atlas was beautiful.

And then it hit him. He jolted backwards as if the pod had electrocuted him. He hadn’t recognized him at first, the white hair and blue marking had thrown him off.

His heart pounded in his chest. In his ears. In his hands.

 _Shiro_.

Was this actually him? Or was this a special android meant to just look like him?

“ _Facial Recognition needed, please take off your mask_.”

His watch vibrated, the screen had changed, counting down the ticks he had left to get out of there. He had five dobashes.

Fuck.

Keith turned around and sprinted toward the bay doors, as he approached the doors began to open and he sighed with relief. Then he saw the silhouette of a person.

Double fuck.

He ducked behind a table.

“Pidge,” He hissed into his comm. “I need your help.”

Static.

Keith squeezed eyes shut, breathing in deeply. He gripped the dagger at his belt, leaning forward to listen close. He heard soft steps walk past him and the whir of the doors closing. He slowly inched around the table toward the entrance.

“I know someone’s in here.”

The voice sounded familiar, but Keith wasn’t going to let his curiosity get the best of him. Or even more than he already did at least. He stayed quiet, continuing to inch closer to the door.

“I don’t know how you got in,” The person said with a drawl, “But sneaking into Lab 51 was a _very_ ballsy move of you. Don’t worry, I just want to know who you are, I’m not going to tell on you.”

There was a loud beep that pierced the air, the lights in the room beginning to fade. The only lights left in the room emanating from the pods.

Keith blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the darkness. He slipped past the next desk, a few feet closer to the exit. He hoped his eyes wouldn’t give him away. He crouched behind the corner of the desk trying to think of how to get the door quick enough to escape. The only thing he could think of was to just run for it. But what if the doors had been disabled along with the lights? He’d need to reactivate that before he’d be able to even get out.

Taking his dagger out of its sheath by his belt, he shifted into a proper fighting stance. He heard the soft footsteps come closer, ears twitching as he listened closely.

“There you are.”

Keith slashed behind him, leaning down and kicking out. They fell with a curse, arms swinging wide unable to brace themselves, something— a remote— falling out of their hands.

Keith grabbed for it, gunning toward the doors, frantically pushing the buttons on the remote. The lights flicked on, blinding him, then flicked off when Keith pressed the button again. Another button and the doors were pulling apart.

He ran, heart pumping in his chest.

“Pidge are you there?” He gasped out, running through the halls.

Static.

His watch vibrated, he had less than two dobashes left.

He burst through the entrance of Lab 51, the door slamming against a trolley, fluid spilling over the cement floors.

“Get back here!” 

Keith crashed into the wall as he turned the corner. He pushed himself off and tipped over all the trolleys along the way to block his pursuer as he ran toward the elevators. He slammed the ID against the scanner, tapping against it in frenzied motions. The doors began to open, Keith forced himself in, pushing through the metal doors, frantically scanning the ID again and slammed his hand against the main floor button once it appeared. 

The doors shut close, but not before Keith’s eyes laid upon his pursuer. His eyes widened, recognizing him instantly.

Donned in the same skin-tight suit as Atlas, arm holding his elbow where he must have landed when Keith had pushed him, was none other than his old schoolmate, James Griffin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im thinking.. i might make the rating go up later... unsure yet we'll see. 
> 
> anyway, please enjoy! and feel free to support me on tumblr [@lancemclaen](lancemclaen.tumblr.com)!

Walking through the city at night was both a terrifying and beautiful thing. Bright lights shone from all angles, advertisements for Nitro Nunville moving along through the screens built into the skyscrapers. The dancing colourful lights were often a distraction, an excuse to look away from from the rampant crime that broke loose every day, from the broken windows caused by fights or gunshots, and the homeless that huddled together in the streets.

_Nitro Nunville, the cold drink your tastebuds will thank you for. Only 1500 creds._

Only fifteen hundred creds, what an absolute waste. That could buy Keith three outdated data crawlers from a pawn shop to hack into a minor Altech shop. He could buy a pitcher of Juniberry Radler at the Junkyard for less than that.

Keith shoved his hands into his jacket, ignoring the flashing lights as his shoulders hunched slightly. He strolled through the south end of the city, heading down Everton Avenue toward the Underground where the Blades headquarters was situated. It was just outside Galra Enterprise territory; sometimes Keith wondered if it really was safe to be hidden here so close. In a way, it made sense. The Blades had a close eye on the Enterprise. But he couldn’t help but think it was more of a risk than a positive thing.

Typically Keith would have driven his bike through the city, but he didn’t want to risk the Garrison tracking it down. He had left it covered in desert dust in the underground parking lot of The White Lion Hotel, about twenty minutes away, and trudged his way here.

He wasn’t sure why the alarms hadn’t gone off when James had spotted him. Perhaps the olds Gods had been keeping an eye on him and bestowed upon him some luck, but he sure didn’t feel lucky. Instead, he felt like there was a heavy blanket draped over him sewn together by threads of pure dread that were ready to pull him under in any second.

The Underground was built of long winding tunnels right beneath the Arus Expressway. It was cleaner than the name made it sound, though the grey concrete walls of the tunnels were stained dark from various liquids, and barrels of garbage still littered the streets, it didn’t _smell_ like a dump. The streets were mostly barren as it was the dead of night, though there were a couple of homeless people sleeping on the pavement wrapped in thin worn blankets.

Questions filled his head as he made his way through the tunnels. What was James doing there? What were the MFE’s exactly and what did they have to do with Atlas— with _Shiro_? They floated around in his mind, repeating endlessly. He had no real way of answering until he got the data to the Blade, and even then, he wasn’t even sure they could extract all the answers with it.

Halfway down the third tunnel was a set of stairs that lead into a cramped alleyway, at the end of it was an orange door with the words _Staff Only_ painted on it in white.

Keith pulled out a long black disk that changed into the shape of a star when he pressed a button. To his left was a metal plate and he inserted his key in a star-shaped metal grove and twisted.

The orange door unlocked, and Keith pushed through, the metal hinges squeaking loudly. The entrance was as tidy for once, the tiled floor sparkled under the lights, free of blood and dirt, no soggy ripped up boxes in sight.

“Hey K-bom, about time you got here,” a low voice said coming from the stairs at the end of the foyer. Leaning against the wall was Rolo in his signature aviator hat. Like Keith, he was temp Blade, but unlike him, Rolo was a third-rate bastard who would probably betray the Blade in an instant if offered enough creds.

“I’ve got the data,” Keith said, closing the door behind him, listening for the click of the lock going back in place.

“Heard you almost got caught,” Rolo grinned, slapping Keith’s back as he passed by him.

Keith swatted his hand away and grumbled, “Don’t touch me.”

He stomped down the stairs with Rolo trailing behind him, Rolos metal leg clanking loudly with each step. It was a miracle that Rolo never got caught during covert missions, but he guessed that’s why he was almost always the driver.

They entered the second room to the right of the stairs. Inside was a long boardroom table, most of the chairs pushed in. Pidge was nowhere to be seen. Built into the back wall was a large monitor which was currently playing the video recording of Keith’s escape from the lab. _Great_.

Kolivan stood at the end of the table, arms folded across his chest.

“Nice of you to join us, Keith,” he said, voice sounding calmer than Keith had expected it to. “Let’s discuss the mission.”

“Where’s Pidge?” Keith asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down. Antok silently passed him a silver spark drive.

“She’s in the back, she'll be here in a moment.”

Keith tapped the drive against his Marmo-watch, the holoscreen opening up to the data screen. Transferring data via spark drives kept things safer from getting tracked online via downloads.

“The mission was a partial success,” Kolivan started, his yellow eyes trained on Keith. “The data may have been collected but our identities may end up compromised because a certain individual was _too_ curious.”

“As they said in the old days,” Rolo said, slipping into a chair across from Keith, “Curiosity killed the cat.”

“Fuck you,” Keith glared at Rolo then looked to Kolivan. “I didn’t compromise the mission. I got away just fine. I was wearing a mask. Anyway, I got more information from sneaking into the room than if we had just looked at the data.”

“Sure,” Rolo said rolling his eyes.

“Enough,” Kolivan pursed his lips, then motioned for him to pass the spark drive. He inserted the spark into the hub at the bottom of in the wall, the screen immediately switched from the video of Keith to the file screen, hundreds of file names appearing, completely covering the screen in words and abbreviations Keith didn’t know.

He opened his mouth to ask a question but the door opened behind them, Pidge hastily making her way inside the room. Her hair was a mess, sticking up in all sorts of weird angles.  

“Hi,” She said, giving Keith the stink eye before slipping into the empty seat next to him. “I’m here, ready to decrypt the data.”

Antok silently passed Pidge a keyboard.

She glanced at the screen behind Kolivan, squinting slightly as she read the file names.  “Where do you guys want me to start?”

“Well, the mission was to find out about the MFE’s,” Keith said. Pidge nodded, stretching her arms out and cracking her fingers loudly before placing her hands on the keyboard.

She typed away, quickly retrieving some file labeled _projectEarth_MFEdata_ and began trying to decrypt it. “You said something earlier about how they’re androids?”

Keith nodded, looking back to Kolivan. “I explored further into the lab, there was this room full of Pods. There was one pod, in particular, that was labeled Project Atlas.”

When Kolivan didn’t say anything, Keith continued. “The glass for the pods were frosted and opaque but when I approached the Atlas one, the glass revealed some sort of humanoid figure, an Android or even possibly an advanced cyborg?”

“The creation of cyborgs are strictly forbidden, do you really think the Garrison would resort to altering humans? It’s against what they claim to stand for.”

“Augmentations are perfectly legal,” Pidge said, eyes never leaving the screen. “Almost everyone these days has implants.”

Kolivan sighed, “There’s a difference between augments and cyborgs, as our lead hacker I would think you would already know that.”

Pidge shrugged, “Sure, but honestly, I don’t see much of a difference. Augments enhance the body. Cyborgs just have more advanced augments.”

“Well, whatever the case,” Keith continued, “I couldn’t tell if Atlas was an Android or a Cyborg. The biggest deal about him was that he looked _exactly like Shiro_.”

There was a beat of silence. Even Pidge had stopped typing.

Another beat. Then they broke loose, Pidge stood up with enough force her chair rolled far back to hit the wall. Kolivan unwound his crossed arms to lean against the table. Rolo was no longer slouched, his back straight and attentive. Antok was the only one still in the same pose.

“Shiro?!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Are you positive?” Kolivan frowned.

“I know Shiro, and _Atlas_ looked exactly like him. He had white hair though, and some weird blue light on his forehead.”

“This is... unsettling news, but we cannot be sure this Atlas is truly your Shiro.”

“I know that. So Pidge will analyze the data we extracted and find out more stuff. This is the first clue I’ve gotten about Shiro over the past year Kolivan.”

“Pidge?” Kolivan looked from Keith to her, expression unreadable.

She swallowed, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarantee that the data we extracted will have any information about this Atlas slash Shiro.”

“Wait what-- what do you mean? I thought we collected all the data.”

“Yeah we got the data but that doesn’t mean the data we’re looking for is in what we got.”

Keith threw his hands up, “You just pulled up the MFE file!”

“And hopefully there’s something on there that we can use!” Pidge said, taking a deep breath. She grabbed her chair and sat back down, but swiveled to face Keith.

“The Garrison keeps their top-secret data in that server in Lab 51, but your tech was only able to download maybe half a petabyte of data, which is like, nothing compared to how much data those servers hold! I programmed the drive to download any data pertaining to the MFE program, Atlas may not be part of that so as I said, I can’t guarantee we’ll have the information.”

Each word Pidge said seemed to drive the kindle of hope that had been burning in his chest into a pile of ash. He could feel a panic begin to build up inside him. All this effort for the Blade was supposed to help lead him to Shiro and he finally had a sliver of a clue, he wasn't going to let his hope die. He finally had something, and that was better than nothing.

“Then if there’s nothing there, I need to go back in. This project Atlas has something to do with Sh--”

“You can’t Keith,” Kolivan cut him off. “The Garrison already know someone snuck in, they are on high alert.”

“It’s only a matter of time before they find the drive in the servers,” Rolo added, leaning back against his chair once again.

“I don’t care!” Keith shouted.

“You _should_ care,” Kolivan growled, pushing himself up to stand. “If you go out there and try to infiltrate the Garrison again you _will_ get caught and jeopardize everything we’ve worked hard for.”

Keith heart pounded in his chest, breathing hard. “They have something to do with him, I know it.”

And something to do with James too.

“We talked about this Keith. We will help you find Shiro, just you must be patient. Let Pidge decrypt the data before you jump the gun and get us all captured and detained.”

Keith grumbled, digging his fingers into his arms with frustration as he slouched deeper into his seat. “Fine.”

Rolo whistled, “Damn, K-bom. You’re a fiery one.”

“I’ll do my best to get through the data as fast as I can, Keith.” Keith looked to Pidge who gave him a dry smile.

“The meeting is adjourned. I’ll wire the creds to your accounts.”

They all shuffled around the room afterward. Pidge stayed inside to continue decrypting the data, Antok keeping her company. Rolo saluted before heading up the stairs, pulling out a square from his side pocket along with a lighter. Kolivan pulled Keith to the side, warm hands encapsulating his shoulders.

“I know you’re upset. I pray to the old Gods that we have the data on Atlas. As you know, we have higher priorities: to overthrow the Galran regime; but know that we will do what we can to help you in your mission to find Shiro”

“Yeah,” Keith shrugged Kolivan’s hands off of him. “I know.”

Kolivan nodded, stepping back. “It is late, if you want you can stay here the night. I’m sure your mother will want you to stay safe.”

Keith stayed silent at that, turning away to head up the stairs. Like hell he was staying here. He zipped his jacket up as he exited the hideout. He kicked an empty can of beer to the side, It skittered a few feet to left before rolling back down the tunnel, eventually out of sight. It felt like a metaphor for his life. With each new step forward that lead him closer to finding Shiro, he was forced several feet back. Keith sighed, shoulders sagging, continuing his way up at a much slower pace.

 _Five days_ , he thought to himself. He’d give Pidge five days to crack the data. If she couldn’t decrypt it within that time frame and see if there was information on Shiro, he was going to find a way back into the Garrison, to learn exactly what Atlas was… _is_ , and what these MFEs were if it was what would lead him to Shiro.

**

Lance wasn’t easily bribed, or at least he didn’t think of himself as such. But when it came to his sister, it was hard to say no.

“There was a breach in the GHQ” she had said on the phone earlier in the day, “Meet me at Sal’s at midnight.”

“Whoa whoa whoa sis, you can’t just leave it at that.”

“I can, and I will. Don’t be late.”

The line cut, he looked at the time on his phone which blinked 11:25 pm and had raced to get ready.

So here he was, at Sal’s, a shabby old bar/cafe at the edge of Galran territory, but it was considered neutral and was a relatively safe spot for people to hang out. Despite having boarded up walls and creaky floors, Sal’s was still up and running and had the absolute best chicken wings in the city. The here music was loud like always, the pulsing lights were flashing blue and white, couples were dancing and laughing all over the place. But Lance was not here to eat wings or dance, he was here, being bribed to follow a lead on the suspect of the break-in.

“I’m a bartender, not a private investigator Veronica,” Lance said, crossing his arms, his brows drawn together in mild annoyance. “You can't call me here just bribe me with tickets to the upcoming Altech conference to follow leads you have on some stranger. What if they’re dangerous?”

“They _are_ dangerous Lance.”

“Then all the more reason not to agree!”

“I know you’re involved with Altechs,” Veronica swirled her glass, the purple drink frothing at the motions. She quickly glanced around before whispering, “And with the _Heir_ no less, so I know you don’t really need those tickets.”

“Okay so now you’re _blackmailing_ me?”

“I’m trying to _convince_ you. Make me waste my precious creds on getting those tickets instead of using your connections to get them for free. It’s still a bribe.”

Lance snorted at that and took a drink. “You’re funny.”

“I’m glad you think so. You’re the best at reading people Lance.”

“No I’m not, what you’re actually saying is you don’t trust anyone else to do the job.”

Veronica grinned, “See, you _are_ good at reading people Lance.”

They looked at one another for a few moments, drinks in their hands, flashing lights creating weird shadows over their faces.

Lance broke first and sighed, “You owe me.”

“Of course.”

Veronica downed the rest of her drink before pulling something out from her purse and placing in on the table, her augmented nails flashed bright white then green as she tapped against the object. “The data we have is on this spark drive. After two days it’ll automatically delete the all the files stored on it.”

Lance hummed, picking up the drive and twirled it around his fingers. “Alright.”

His sister stood, brushing the front of her pants before patting Lance on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. And don’t get too caught up with work.”

She laughed, then waved him goodbye, not looking back. Lance sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He really hoped this didn’t get him in more trouble than he was already in. He gently stuffed the drive into the inside pocket of his coat, then took his glass and downed the rest of it. He could take a look at it when he got into his car.

“Your sister seemed a bit frazzled,” a voice said coming from behind him. “I’m glad that she at least finished her drink.”

“Ah you know her Hunk, she loves Nitro Nunville, which I still don’t understand, it’s downright nasty.”

Hunk slid into the seat across from Lance where Veronica had just been, placing another glass in front of Lance, then set his silver tray down on the table. “It hits fast though, enhanced by nanotech to go through your system faster and last longer.”

“Yeah, makes sense I guess, but I am a man of refined taste and will not let that nastiness ever touch my lips ever again,” Lance made a face, remembering the first time he drank it. It had been the best night ever, his twenty-third birthday. The strongest memory of that night had been the burn of it when it went down his throat and how awful it tasted. He didn’t remember anything else.

“What did you sister want?” Hunk asked.

“It’s top secret stuff, but she wants me to trail some guy who managed to sneak into the Garrison.”

“The Garrison? Like, the headquarters or like, their offices?”

“HQ man, H motherfucking Q.”

“Oh my god,” Hunk’s eyes went wide but then he nodded with appreciation. “That’s some next level crazy. And your sister wants you to find the perp?”

Lance nodded, sipping at the new drink. It was sweet and tangy, just how he liked it. “Down to help me out bud?”

“Uh… I dunno about that man.” Hunk laughed nervously, dark eyes flicking toward the bar before looking back at Lance as if Sal was watching him. Like Sal would even care.

“Dude, please? I won’t tell Shay.”

“Umm….”

“I won’t need much help, just be there for me if I get stuck in a situation.”

Hunk was silent, but then he sighed, “Fine.”

Lance fist pumped, “Hell yeah, you’re the real one Hunk.”

Hunk sighed, shaking his head to the side. “Thank you, but you owe me. I’m getting off early today, if you need help later today I can help you then.”

“I love you Hunk, if Shay hadn’t snatched you up when she did I would be asking for your hand in marriage right now,” Lance grinned, then drank some more. “Anyway, I better get going. My shift at the hotel starts in an hour. Have fun on your break.”

“See you, and good luck.”

“Oh, and make sure this goes under Veronica’s tab. I’m not paying fifteen hundred creds for her stupid Nunville.”


End file.
